


Bloody Blue Skin

by reeby10



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Established Relationship, Injury, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Minor Character Death, Presumed Dead, Worry, Writing Rainbow Treats, soulmates share scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 05:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19968562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: Thrawn goes missing during a scouting mission and Eli's worried that the worst has happened to his soulmate.





	Bloody Blue Skin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



Eli was starting to feel concerned. Thrawn had missed the scheduled check and neither he nor the Stormtroopers he’d taken with him could be raised on the communicators. There was no way to know what was going on out there between them and the criminals who they’d gone find.

When the second check in passed without a reestablishment of contact, something had to be done. And Eli had to be the one to do it. He still wasn’t entirely used to his new rank as Lieutenant Commander, but it did mean that with Thrawn gone and the Chimaera not scheduled to return for them for another two days, he was in charge at the temporary encampment.

He sent a couple of Stormtroopers who had show proficiency in tracking out to investigate Thrawn’s last known location, wishing he could go with them but knowing he needed to stay. It would be no good to leave the rest of the Stormtroopers with no officer; that was practically asking for things to completely go to hell.

The wait was excruciating, even more so than it had been after Thrawn first missed the check in. It made sense in a way. Eli knew that the more time that passed without word, the less chance there was of a positive outcome. And he very much wanted a positive outcome.

It was one thing to lose your commanding officer, even one you’d been with as long as Eli had been with Thrawn. It was quite another for that commanding officer to be your soulmate. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if his worst fears — the kinds he couldn’t even bear to say aloud — about Thrawn’s disappearance were confirmed.

Not long before what would have been the third check in for Thrawn and his contingent of Stormtroopers, the Stormtroopers Eli had sent out for reconnaissance returned. He heard them coming and rushed, as much as was proper for an officer, out of the officers tent to see what they’d found.

“Report,” he snapped as they stopped in front of him. They were carrying bodies and he had to take a deep breath when he saw that there were only three, all in Stormtrooper armor.

“We found these three dead at the search coordinates,” the leader said in that tinny monotone the Stormtroopers usually had. “No sign of the others, including Commodore Thrawn, except for enough blood to indicate a severe injury or injuries. We followed the path of blood as far as possible but were stopped by the river.”

Eli felt his stomach drop, and all he could do was nod numbly and wave a hand to dismiss the Stormtroopers. He returned to the tent in a daze. It wasn’t the worst news he could have gotten, but it certainly wasn’t good news either. He wished suddenly with all his might that soulmates could feel each other, at least enough to know if the other was alive. Shared scars were not really useful, at least not until afterward.

If he could only feel Thrawn, then he’d know if there was still room to hope.

There was really nothing else he could do now, though. Their mission here hadn’t meant to include confrontation, so they didn’t have a significant number of Stormtroopers. They didn’t even have enough to send out a search on the other side of the river, or to search out the criminals Thrawn had been looking for. The confrontation was supposed to be later, after Thrawn found the hidden base he was convinced was on the planet, after the Chimera returned from the base in the next star system. Eli wasn’t supposed to have to be making any decisions about what to do.

He sat in the tent, staring at the dull grey wall of it for some time. He tried to think about what Thrawn would want him to do. Thrawn had always had faith in him from the beginning, even before they’d discovered they were soulmates. Thrawn would want him to continue to do his best as an officer, to not give into the despair that threatened to overwhelm him.

In order to feel like he wasn’t just giving into helplessness, Eli started to write up his report on a datapad. He would wait to submit it until they were picked up by the Chimera, perhaps even until after he’d convinced Faro to search for Thrawn’s whereabouts. Even if it was just a body, they had a duty to find him.

Sometime later, not long after a light rain had started falling, the sound dulled by the heavy fabric of the tent, Eli heard a commotion coming from outside. There weren’t any sounds of fighting, more confusion, but it was better to be safe than sorry, so he grabbed his blaster on the way out to see what was happening. He stepped out of the tent and froze.

Standing just a few meters away was Thrawn. He was damp looking, more so than could be explained by the rain. There was a long cut down the outside of his left arm, stretching almost from shoulder to elbow, showing bloody blue skin beneath the torn uniform. Eli would have been more concerned about that if it wasn’t for the palpable relief that came crashing down on him at seeing his soulmate alive.

He didn’t even think as he strode over to Thrawn, just grabbed his face with both hands and pressed their lips together with no little amount of desperation. Despite the rain and the fact that Thrawn usually tried to keep a firm separation between their professional and personal lives — and there were certainly at least a handful of Stormtroopers watching their reunion — he didn’t hesitate in kissing back.

They eventually pulled back to breathe, rain now streaming down both of their faces, and Eli was sure he hadn’t felt this light in years. Yes, Thrawn was injured, and yes, there was still much to be done concerning who was responsible, but Thrawn was _alive_ , and that was worth it all. Even the report he’d have to rewrite.

Thrawn was looking at him, face just as impassive as always, but after so long together, Eli could easily see the same feelings reflected there. He smiled, pleased when his soulmate returned the gesture for just a moment. None of the Stormtroopers would probably notice, but he certainly did.

“I’m glad you made it back,” Eli said, hoping that would cover all the other things he couldn’t even begin to put into words yet.

“As am I.” His gaze dropped from Eli’s face to his arm. “I apologize for the scar you’ll have after this, though.”

Eli couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I’d say it’s worth it.”


End file.
